BERLIN (AP) – A prominent Berlin politician was violently assaulted and suffered injuries to her head and neck, police said yesterday, in the latest attack on elected officials that raises concern over rising political violence in Germany.
The city’s top economic official Frankziska Giffey, who is also a former mayor and an ex-federal minister, was attacked at an event in a Berlin library on Tuesday by a man who approached her from behind and hit her with a bag containing a hard device, police said.
Giffey was taken to a hospital and treated for head and neck pain, police said, adding they were searching for the perpetrator.
Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner strongly condemned the attack.
“Anyone who attacks politicians is attacking our democracy,” said Wegner, according to German news agency dpa. “We will not tolerate this. We will oppose all forms of violence, hatred and agitation and protect our democracy.”
Giffey wrote on Instagram that “we live in a free and democratic country in which everyone is free to express their opinion… and yet there is a clear limit. And that is violence against people who hold a different opinion, for whatever reason, in whatever form”.
“They are a transgression of boundaries that we as a society must resolutely oppose,” she said.
